Delores Wells Bio
Delores Wells was an American Playboy Bunny, actress, makeup artist, glamour and nude model. She was born Delores Marie Wells on October 17, 1937, in Reading, Pennsylvania. Playboy named her its June 1960 Playmate at 22. Her appearance came during the 1960s, as Playboy grew into a major force in American magazine publishing.
Wells had natural breasts, brown eyes and brown hair. Her measurements are 36-20-36.
Delores Wells belonged to Playboy when Playboy was still inventing itself. She was working as a chorus dancer at Chicago’s celebrated Chez Paree nightclub when she was spotted and brought into Hugh Hefner’s rapidly expanding world. In June 1960, Wells became Playboy’s Playmate of the Month, earning $500 for her pictorial and signing a two-year exclusive contract that paid her another $100 a month. Not bad for a young woman about to become part of a cultural phenomenon.
But Wells wasn't destined to remain simply a Centerfold. She became a Bunny at the original Chicago Playboy Club, slipping into the famous costume at the very moment the club was becoming one of the hottest tickets in town. With personality to match the outfit, Wells reportedly earned as much as $1,000 a week — serious money in the early 1960s. She had wit, confidence and the ability to work a room, exactly the qualities that made the best Bunnies celebrities in their own right.
Hollywood inevitably beckoned. Wells appeared in movies and television throughout the 1960s and was particularly drawn to comedy, with Lucille Ball serving as an inspiration. She found a perfect piece of period pop culture in the beach-party movies, appearing in three films from the cycle. The roles may have been small, but they placed a Playboy Playmate squarely inside another of the decade’s great Technicolor fantasies: sunshine, bikinis, music and California youth culture.
Her life after Playboy was every bit as unpredictable. Wells worked as a makeup artist for Alice Cooper and later in the business office of the Oakland Raiders — two jobs that could hardly have been invented by the same career counselor. Another Playboy connection eventually brought her into the orbit of Linda Lovelace, whom she met at a Playboy Mansion party and later worked for as a personal secretary.
That wonderfully improbable résumé is what makes Wells such a perfect figure from Playboy’s original era. Chorus dancer, June 1960 Playmate, Chicago Bunny, actress, makeup artist and football-office professional — she never seemed interested in following a conventional script. Playboy caught Delores Wells near the beginning, just as the Bunny, the Club and the Centerfold were becoming American institutions. She didn't merely pose during that moment. She lived right in the middle of it.
